Better off Alone
by LoveIsAlwaysLouder
Summary: James S Potter is off to his 6th year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and soon find himself drawn towards someone from his. As he struggles to gain the trust and friendship of the now mysterious Grace, he must navigate his most treacherous adventure yet, falling in love


**Hey this is a bit out of nowhere so I have to ask you to bear with me for a little bit until this story gets going.**

On the morning of August 31st, James Potter woke to the sun pouring through his bedroom window and into his sleep filled eyes. The clock on his dressing table read half past eleven, and he yawned heavily as he rolled out of bed. He had granted himself the leisure of sleeping late that morning, seeing as it was his last before heading to back to school, where every morning would be a rush of early breakfasts and morning classes. He was about to begin his 6th year at Hogwarts, and as happy as he was to return to school, he couldn't help but be sad to see the summer go.

That summer had been the best of his life. He had received far better marks then he had expected on his OWLs, and been awarded the tittle of captain of his house team, just as his mother and father had during their time at school. Between playing games of quidditch with his cousins and weekend trips to shell cottage to enjoy the sea he had worked part time for his uncles at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes which had left him with a sizeable amount of gold and all the nose bleed nugget he could carry.

He sauntered down the stairs, taking them two at a time before he remerged on the landing below, and turned into the kitchen. The rest of the Potters were gathered around the kitchen table, tucking into a late breakfast, all still dressed in their pyjamas and robes.

" Lovely of you to grace us with your presence." Lilly quipped pulling a plate of sausage towards her.

" Have a good lie in did you?" James rolled his eyes before taking his place next to his brother at the table.

" That's rich coming from you. How long have you been awake then? Fifteen minutes?" Lilly shot him a dirty look, before reaching across the table for the steaming pot of coffee, her hand was quickly swatted away by Ginny, who snatched the pot away from her daughter and filled her own cup.

"Since when do you drink coffee?" Harry asked a bemused look on his face as he took a large bite of toast.

"Since always!" Lilly shot back, still eyeing the pot from across the table.

" She's a third year now dad. Very sophisticated." Al smirked as Lilly went a deep shade of red and threw a bit of sausage at his face, which he artfully dodged. It landed on the floor behind his chair, which would soon be cleaned by the cat, which lived mainly in the garden and only showed his face at meal times. Their meal time chatter continued on this way for some time, while across the country in London, a very different family meal was taking place.

The conversation between Grace, her mother and Dennis had been particularly awkward that morning. Her mother hand been glancing between her daughter and new love ever since they sat down, afraid that Grace might let something slip that would send their whole charade crumbling down. Grace had risen early that morning, wanting to enjoy a few hours alone in the flat before her mother or anyone else was awake to pester her. Although her trunk had been fully packed for almost a fortnight, she still spent a quarter of an hour flitting around her room, making sure nothing remotely magical was left lying about, knowing full well the second she was gone her mother would be in there to cleanse ever surface of anything that couldn't be bought in a muggle shop.

It was moments like this when Grace missed her father most. This time last year, her father had taken the day off work, a very rare occurrence, and spent the whole day with Grace and her mother as a send-off before she returned to school. They had done last minute shopping in diagon alley, where her father had treated her to not only a new set a dress robes, but also a small scrawny cat, that she had dubbed Patrick .

" I worry about you getting lonely." He had said as he plodded the soft grey cat into her arms.

" Reggie's a great owl, but he isn't much of a cuddlier" he joked. She had been so reminded of her first school shopping trip to diagon alley when she was eleven, and her father had stood by her for nearly an hour while she wondered about the store staring up at all the beautiful birds and trying to decide which one she would take home. In the end she had settled on a tawny barn owl, who had gained the name Reynolds, but dad had only ever called Reggie.

The scrawny cat had filled out into an extremely lazy over weight fluff ball, who spent most of the days while at home stretched out across her bed snoring loudly, or mewing at the two owls who slept in the rafters above.

The old family owls Perkins, as well as her own bird were living in secret on the upper most beams of her room after one morning her mother had flung open the kitchen window and ordered the two birds out, and shouted after them not to return. That had been the same morning that she had gathered every spell book and enchanted item in their small Sudbury cottage and hidden them away in a small locked cupboard and ordered Grace not to go near them.

A few months after her father's death, her mother had begun to date an investment banker named Dennis. Grace hadn't thought much of it, never considering that her mother would ever begin something serious so soon after her father's death, especially with a muggle, who she could share nothing on her personal life with. Therefore she had been extremely surprised to have come downstairs one morning and found her mother flitting around their home and ridding it of anything that could be linked to the wizarding world. She was also extremely surprised when her mother announced that they would be moving into Dennis's town home in London.

It had escalated to the point where her mother had forbidden her from not only speaking of the wizarding world in front of Dennis, but ever at all.

She had spent the first half of the summer, hiding in her room, not wanting to hear her mother and Dennis going on and on about whatever mundane and trivial things they were always chattering on about.

Her mother would have been perfectly happy to forget that magic existed entirely, if it had not been for Grace and her impending return to school. All the colour in her mother's face had drained when she had entered her daughter's room and spotted her OWL letter and school list to realize that she had not escaped the whole world all together.

Whenever Grace had tried to approach her mother to appeal to her about her need for new school books or supplies, her mother quickly changed the subject. It hadn't been until Dennis had brought up Graces schooling, and her mother had muttered something about her attending a boarding school out of the country, had Grace let out a sigh of relief, now knowing that her mother wouldn't be stopping her from attended Hogwarts.

Although she had to sneak out of the house in order to slip into Diagon alley and purchase her school books, it was far better than spending her 6th year bored out of her mind sitting in some muggle class room, pretending to give a shit about trigonometry or geography.

So on the morning of the 31st Dennis and her mother stood next to her at kings cross station as she boarded a train to Wales, only to turn around the moment the train came to a halt in the station, and she ran to catch the first train back to London.

It would have been far simpler If Dennis hadn't been so determined to see her off to school. Her mother had spent several hours trying to convince him that it wasn't necessary, but he had insisted. So a full day early, they had been standing on the platform, Dennis blissfully unaware of how tense her mother was, as she glanced from side to side terrified that Dennis may turn around and notice dozens of witches and wizards casually running through the barricades between each platform.

So after spending all night awake on a train back from Whales, Grace stumbled through King Cross station, glancing at her wrist watch, waiting for the clock to strike ten and the Hogwarts express to begin boarding.

After spending several hours dozing at a small table at the tiny coffee concession, Grace collected her trunk and a very disgruntled cat and headed over to platform 9 3/4.

The second she crossed over onto the platform she could feel several set of eyes on her. She hadn't been out much, since she had been pulled from her classes in April. Her father's death had been plastered over the profit for weeks after it had happened, and was still referenced often throughout the summer. She pushed her way through the crowed, trying not to pay too much attention to the swarms of happy families, fussing over their children and glancing nervously at the large clock.

She approached the train, struggling to maneuver her large trunk, heavy from all the extra items she had had to laden it with to save them from her mother's wrath. She had placed her cat's carrier on the steps and was attempting to hoist her trunk onto the train. She could hear the signs of frustrated children behind her, exasperated at how slowly she was moving.

She had been about to give up her pride and turn around and ask one of the annoyed members of crowed to grab the other end, when the majority of her trunks weight was lifted from her arm. She twisted around and came face to face with James Potter, who had grabbed the other end of her trunk and assisted her in placing it on the train. He shot her that trademarked smile that had entranced one 4th year so much that she had attempted to slip him a love potion, that had accidently been ingested by one of her dorm mates cat, which had proceeded to follow to poor girl around for days, mewing constantly, and taking every opportunity to climb onto her lap.

He had looked as if he had been about to speak, when she muttered a quick thank you and turned to find an empty compartment.


End file.
